Weekend of the 23rd - 24th February 2008.

Despite the poor weather, we still got a few lifts in, unlike the last few weekends where students have managed to jump all day. Some of the staff members found other ways of entertaining themselves. (Photo below Lee Pugh on a minimoto)

The day room is being stripped out and getting a make over, there are now 4 download stations, with new carpet and and rig racks due to be installed early in the week. There are also additional lockers available for hire, anyone wanting one for the year should contact the drop zone directly.

For those of you that have been asking for a copy of the 'Good Stuff' DVD, good news.... They're back in stock in the DZ shop!

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Weekend of 16th - 17th February 2008. Click here for Photos.

An awesome photo taken by Paul Geary early Sunday morning, and if this is anything to go by, we can't wait till we start seeing photos from him in the air! For more photos from the weekend, click here.

Team Flux have begun their training as a 4-Way FS team, but take time off for a sneaky hoop jump, celebrating both Rachel Duncan and Charlotte Fletchers 200th Jump.

Above; Lee Pugh (holding hoop left), Simon Catherine (holding hoop right), Charlotte Fletcher (going through), Rachel Duncan (waiting to go through).

On a separate note, well done (of sorts) to Chris Brook, who must be the only person ever to turn a hoop into a triangle.... well done... kinda. Photo below

A cold start to Sunday morning, with a much milder afternoon. Gentle breezes and only a slight haze meant that all the RAPS and AFF could jump. Well done to "William Swanson", "Sean McKenna" and "Kebin Thapa" for making their first ever jumps, especially "Kebin" for doing 4 in one day, and William who did 3. Both of whom are totally hooked.

Nice one to York Uni who got an amazing 27 RAPS descents done this weekend.

Lastly, well done Jen Cooper on her first weekend working on manifest!

(Below), The sunset on Sunday night. Awesome! Thanks everyone for a great weekend.

 

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9th & 10th February 2008

A cold start to both mornings of the weekend. Yet with clear skies and low winds, students were able to get on both of the first lifts of the weekend.

Congratulations to AFF students "Claire Lloyd" and "Richard Webb" who managed to complete their AFF level 7's. Ryan Moores also returned to Hibaldstow sporting a new jump suit, making him look like an official environmental health officer... just joking Ryan. (Photo below left)

    

A sad goodbye to 'Aussie' packers "Matt" and "Anita" (Photo above right) who are off to warmer climates next week (back to Oz).

We welcome the return of the 'Finist' (SMG) with its good climb rate and warm cabin temperatures. Also returning to Hibaldstow Airfield, Bus Driver Jo-Jo with his big winter hair....

Congratulations to first time jumpers "Namoi Hoogesteger" and "Vicky Towers" (below) who got their level one AFF jumps done early today, and to Andy Wesley, who has made his first camera jump with digital photos (first digital photo by Andy Wesley featured below!)

 

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WOOLY JUMPERS 2nd - 3rd February 2008 - Click here for photos.
Stu Fergusons 'Wooley Jumpers' was a great success. Everyone had a great time, especially when free T-Shirts were given out. (Thanks to www.studentnightout.co.uk who sponsored them). Nice one 'Stu Ferguson' for the designs on them, everyone loved them.

Jumping started on Saturday morning and despite the bad forecast, the skies were clear, although very cold. Simon Brentford and Simon Cathrine began to organise groups of jumpers with the hope of working towards the goal of a new BCPA record. The dropzone had 2 Dornier G92's and the SMG on hand. Everyone was able to take part in the jumps and that included some one-on-one's for those not wanting to participate in the big ways.

There was a brief spell of bad weather mid-day and Dave Honeybone organised a creeping competition on the creeper pad. The planning of any skydive is important and knowing how to move accurately on the creepers reflects itself in the sky when a jump actually happens.

On Saturday night Below DJ Del Greco (left) and Stu Ferguson (right) decided to set up their decks for a spot of dance music. They could be seen arguing over which Spice Girls track to play.

Offers on drinks at the bar, and "Russ the barman" serving up all manner of concoctions (often by request) went down well. The Sumo Wrestling was the event of the night. Competing universities included "York", "The University of Life" (all those not affiliated to a current university), "Lancaster" and "Newcastle" to name but a few.

Universities sent in their best wrestlers to fight for top place. Men and Women competed on equal battle grounds, in giant Sumo Suits, which for some people were so big and cumbersome that they nearly fell over on their own.

  

Following on from the Sumo Wrestling there was the 'sexy dance', using just one innocent looking prop, a chair. The contest was so close, that it was decided that it was a draw, and that the only way to settle it was to have a.... yes you guessed it... Women's wrestling match. Well done to "Olga" for winning that one. Below "Anita" with her sex dance party piece.

The standard student boat race was of course held in true style on the dance floor. See below.

 

Sundays weather was unfortunately all blown out, however there was B-License progression day suitably pre-booked to keep many people occupied. You can expect more boogies to be organised by Stu in the future.

TARGET SKYSPORTS GETS THE NATIONALS
It was decided on Wednesday after a BPA meeting that Target Skysports has again been successful in biding for the National Championships. We will be hosting the competition on behalf of 4-way, 8-way, Artistics, Speed and CF again.

If that is not enough for you, we are also hosting the 8-way Grand Prix on the weekend of July 5th and 6th. There will be top-level BPA coaches available at the event, so you can rock up and join a team.

We are in the process of organising other events including the scrambles and various coaching / organising weekends. Do you have any good ideas for what you would like to see?
 

PACKING COURSE 1st February
Richie Rich our resident full-time rigger is running a packing course on Friday the 1st of February. There is one space left, so if you are interested in taking part, please let the dropzone know on 01132 505600.
 

INTERVIEW WITH SIMON CATHRINE FROM TEAM FUSION
Simon Cathrine has been jumping at Target Skysports for a long time. He is one member of Team Fusion and of whom many will know his coaching talents. Over the winter period, Target Skysports wants to keep you in the loop with all the latest news. So we decided to interview Simon and find out what his plans are for the forthcoming 2008 season.

1. Simon please tell me how it comes to be that the 4th place winners of the British Nationals last year are now the British Team going to France in August?. Team Storm were the winners of Nationals last year and so were entitled to either the open or the female slot for the world championships 2008. They elected to take the female slot. This meant that the open slot would be offered to the 2nd placed team. Unfortunately both the second and third placed teams have split up. This left us in the happy position of being offered a slot to represent our country in France next year which we were delighted to accept. 2. Have there been any changes to your team since the 2007 season? Doug McLelland has decided to retire from serious 4-way. He assures us it's not because he couldn't stand to spend any more time with us! His slot will be filled this year by Henry Chow who flew outside centre for Inferno last year. Also, Dave Butterell was invited to join Connexions, the UK 8-way team. He has been replaced by Alan Thompson. We're really excited to welcome Henry and Alan to the team. 3. What plans and preparations are you making and are they different compared to if you had not been selected to compete this year? We've always aimed to do as much training as possible but we are hoping to go that extra mile this year. We are about to go away on our first training camp to Eloy. We have a second booked in April and plan to have a 3rd trip in June though we haven't confirmed yet whether that will be in Eloy or Europe. We'll also be training in at Hibaldstow and in Bedford whilst at home. Because this year's world championships is out of Pilatus Porters, we have the added challenge of a right hand door for exit. We have two options. We can keep our current exit positions and fly all the formations mirrored, or we can switch our exit positions so that the freefall part of the jump will be the same as if it was out of the left hand door we're used to with the Dornier. We'll make the decision on our first camp. 4 . Have you had any support from dropzones or companies? Hibaldstow have always been good to us in giving us a good team rate and getting us in the air as much as we can handle! We've also been lucky to receive some support from Airedale, the company that Simon works for. The money will go towards new team suits and helmets and we're currently negotiating a price for team containers - the jury's still out on that one. In return, the team will accompany the managing director on a tandem skydive, filmed and photographed by our new team cameraman Alan Thompson.

50-WAY CHALLENGE ANNOUNCED
Simon Cathrine has announced that there will be a repeat of last years' successful 50-way challenge bigway event. The event is to be held on September the 6th and 7th. If you are interested in taking part, please contact the dropzone or send Simon and email.

There are many more events planned for bigway skydivers this year. Take a look below for the most recent announcements.

BIG WAY BEGINNERS WEEKEND ANNOUNCED
Caroline Hughes, of Skydive Choreography is again organising some formation skydiving events at Hibaldstow this year.
 

"High experienced, Invitational Challenge Event"  12th to 13th April 2008 This event is an Invitational Challenge Event to do bigger and better formations, building on the success of the jumps done over in Spain at Christmas. If you think you have the skills or have any questions please send Caroline an email. (You don't need to have been at the Spain Xmas Boogie)

"Larger Formation Beginners Weekend" 26th and 27th April 2008 Last year Caroline visited Target Skysports and organised some bigway events which were very successful. She continues this again in 2008 with her first lower experience weekend at the dropzone on the 26th and 27th April . This event is open for all people who have 50 jumps post FS1 and want to learn more about the exciting world of large formations. Caroline has been involved with various records in the UK and at the world level and her knowledge is at the forefront. You can register for the event on her website.

B-LICENSE PROGRESSION COURSE
H has announced that the next B-License progression course is scheduled for Sunday the 3rd February 2008. It will coincide with the UKS Wooley Jumpers boogie being run by Stu Ferguson.

The cost of the course is £10 for the day and covers JM1, CH1 and CH2. You can find out more here. Bookings are made by calling H on 01652 648837 or sending him an email.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008 FOLKS
Target Skysports would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. You may have noticed that we have not yet updated the Events section of the site for 2008. This is because we are still making our plans. A lot rests on the confirmation of BPA competition dates for Nationals and Regional's which is still pending.

However so far for 2008 we can confirm that we will be having:

	2nd to 3rd February - UKS Wooley Jumpers boogie
	3rd February - B-License Progression day
	30th May to 1st June - Brian Vacher's Safe Flight School course
	12th to 13th July - 28-way Sequential Competition
	2 scrambles events
	50-way formation skydiving weekend

As soon as we know any more dates, we will post them here. If you have any ideas for the 2008 season, drop Target Skysports an email.

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CHRISTMAS PARTY 8th to 9th December 2007
This was the last official event at Target Skysports for this year. An accuracy money-meet competition had been planned, however the weather was overcast and rainy. This did not dampen the spirits as the evening brought a big party and free buffet. Thanks goes to Noel and Liz Purcell for organising the delicious food.

Every year, we hand out a Best Progressed Student and Best Team award. This is to recognise those individuals and teams who have overcome difficulties, achieved a lot in the space of a year, shown talent and finally entered in to the spirit of skydiving. Leanne James won the Best Progressed Student award presented by H our CCI. Team 4-Play won the Best Team award for winning the ESL Rookie finals, taking 3rd place at Nationals and winning the overall competition (Grand Prix). Many other teams and individuals have all worked hard in their own skydiving conquests this season and it is a credit to them also for their achievements.

Paul Cooper has played at Target Skysports quite a few times over the last few years. He played again for the Christmas party helping everyone to enjoy their drinks (especially the cocktails prepared by James the barman). You can listen to a mix of that session which he recorded at his website.

So many thanks to all the skydivers and parachutists who came to Target Skysports this year and made it a great success. Next year we will have the  scrambles competitions, formation skydiving and freefly coaching weekends, 28-way competition, 50-way weekend, progression days, the Halloween party and much much more. We are still making plans and as soon as we know, we will let you know.
 

FUSION ARE GOING TO THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Some hot news just in is that Fusion are going to represent the UK in the 4-way class at the World Championships in 2008. Held in Maubeuge (France), the team will be competing from right-hand door Porters with no step. Speaking to Lynne Murray at the Christmas Party, she said that they plan to do a minimum of 2 camps next season, starting early in January 2008. A possible third camp is on the cards. So Target Skysports wants to wish the team the best of luck for the 2008 season. You can find out more about their plans here.

WEEKEND 17th to 18th November 2007
Thanks to the wonders of Facebook and a few well placed phone calls, a large group of 14 skydivers turned up to do some big-ways skills work with Simon Brentford coaching. During these dark cold winter months, its fair to say that many skydivers stay home and it is hard to get anything organised just by turning up. So when everyone met up it was great to see them jumping together.

On the first load a 2 point 9-way was built. The objective was 2 fold over the weekend. Firstly, to setup the approach to the formation correctly by approaching on a 45 degree angle and in the correct sector. Secondly, to stop before you dock. Work on these skills reduces the chances of you going low and taking out the formation. There were enough people to fill the Dornier completely, however it was decided to split the group into 2 so that the knowledge gained could be increased.

3 Jumps total were made over the weekend and considering the bad weather forecast, some good dives were completed. More of these weekends will be organised over the winter.

B-LICENSE PROGRESSION DAY 2nd December 2007
Resident instructor, Steve Murphy has just announced that he will be running a full B-License Progression Day at the dropzone on Sunday the 2nd December. It is usual for progression days to be held mid-week, however Steve has been drafted in to help all those hoping to gain their FAI B-License. Please let the dropzone know if you are going to be there.

Aug 2007 - Nov 2007

Progression Days